How many of you are out there kiting without decent 3rd party liability insurance?

Today a Russian kiter took out my girlfriend and our one and half year old daughter and our 10,000 Euro video camera all in one sweep.

Luckily none of them got hurt, but the Camera will need some professional cleaning as wet sand got into the lens.

First of all, he did not even come to check if everyone was ok, but on the question if his insurance would cover any damage he replied that he did not have any such insurance and then had the arrogance to blame my girlfriend for being on the beach in the first place.

If this had all gone into a worse case scenario and my girlfriend or god forbid our daughter got seriously hurt, or the Camera got totalled I would have to cover the costs all by myself which is not easy as we need to go through the lengthy process of having our insurance sue the guy.

So to those of you who do not have insurance, but still are kiting: GET INSURANCE! Accidents can happen to anyone of us and you might be costing other people substantial amounts of money if you are not covered.

I don't kite around other people all that often, so I had not thought of this. Seems like a very prudent idea. The costs look very reasonable.

Does anyone have any insight into what company or organization might be best in terms of claims/legitimacy? It seems like this is one of those things that would not get used all that often, so it would be helpful to know which companies have a good track record for doing the right thing when an accident does occur.

I gather the euro is weak but that's still professional equipment.
So likely it is owned by a business you run, no?
Which if it is being run well carries insurance on such things also.
Of course if it is not business gear that your business needs to insure itself, it is a seriously bad choice as a personal plaything, unless you carry lots of insurance yourself to cover all possibilities, or you are rather rich.
And if you are rich, who cares, just have another one delivered next day by courier to the island of your choice.
But seriously, if you aren't rich but have quivers of kites, a child, vacation in the canaries, and also sling 10,000 at a video camera, maybe you should re-examine your lifestyle.
There are a lot of Russians in the world, not all behaving nicely either.
Take care of the child and your partner, stick with cheap cameras.
Just sayin'
yours truly,
Vlad
Edit: sorry if that seemed rude, but it's well intended.

I gather the euro is weak but that's still professional equipment.
So likely it is owned by a business you run, no?
Which if it is being run well carries insurance on such things also.
Of course if it is not business gear that your business needs to insure itself, it is a seriously bad choice as a personal plaything, unless you carry lots of insurance yourself to cover all possibilities, or you are rather rich.
And if you are rich, who cares, just have another one delivered next day by courier to the island of your choice.
But seriously, if you aren't rich but have quivers of kites, a child, vacation in the canaries, and also sling 10,000 at a video camera, maybe you should re-examine your lifestyle.
There are a lot of Russians in the world, not all behaving nicely either.
Take care of the child and your partner, stick with cheap cameras.
Just sayin'
yours truly,
Vlad
Edit: sorry if that seemed rude, but it's well intended.

It's not just rude, but judgemental and uninformed.

I am self employed and this camera is how I make part of my living. It is insured, but the insurance will only pay out if I can get the guys details and get witnesses involved and here in Spain I would have to call the Police which will then put Kiting in a bad light on Fuerteventura. In the end it's a huge hassle to deal with it and my premiums would go up. I saved a long time to afford that camera and my insurance premiums are already too high.

The camera is just the smallest part. What if he would have seriously injured my girlfriend and my daughter. Her insurance premiums would go up substantially as her insurance company would have to pay out as he is not covered.

Everyone kitesurfer should have 3rd party insurance - period!
in Greece one year my harness broke and my kite flew up the beach attached to an old windmill which in turn broke while the kite was looping around 200ft up. the broken piece of old windmill blade broke and went through the roof of a big fancy italian camper van. they claimed on my bksa insurance for the 7000 euro repair and all i heard was that they had paid it out. no problems at all after smply giving them my insurance details.
you never know in kitesurfing if something will happen, if your harness breaks or your kite flies away and kills someone and you have no insurance you will end up in prison and lose everything you have- SO GET INSURANCE PEOPLE